[Samba] Samba Debian Vmware Vista problem

[Abu Mats]

I know the subject reads like a recipe for desaster :-)

I run debian within a vmware virtual machine on an xp system, with samba,
and all is fine.

I am now trying to replicate this setup on a new machine I bought, that came
with Vista. I have no idea whether  Vista has anything to do with it, but I
am having problems, i.e. sometimes don't see the virtual machine on vista,
and sometimes I see it but cannot browse into it (or ping it by
computername, IP always works).

On the virtual debian machines (both the one on XP and the one on
Vista) I used these simple steps to install samba:
- get-apt  samba 3.0.14a-Debian (as reported by smbstatus)
- put info into the installed smb.conf (identical, except for 'encrypt
passwords = true' vs. 'encrypt password = yes' no idea why that
difference)
-  cat /etc/passwd | /usr/sbin/mksmbpasswd > /etc/samba/smbpasswd
- smbpasswd myuser (the username is the same on windows, as is the
password)
- /etc/init.d/samba restart

At this point, I can go do these things with the virtual debian machine
that's running on XP:
- see the machine in the network neighborhood, click on it, and browse the
directory on the debian machine
- get into the machine using putty by using the name of the debian machine
- ping the machine by name from XP

On the virtual debian machine that's running on Vista,
- sometimes I can do all I can do on XP
- sometimes the machine is visible in network neighborhood, but when I click
on it, it's "not accessible"
- sometimes the machine isn't even visible in network neighborhood
- HOWEVER, all along I can ping the machine by IP, and I can putty into the
machine by IP

I am sure this is something real simple, but not simple for me!

Abu Mats